CMA 2017 #106 · Agenda item attachment · Apr 24 2017

CITY OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS P L A N N I N G B O A R D CITY HALL ANNEX, 344 BROADWAY, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02139 Page 1 of 1 Date: April 18, 2017 Subject: Harding, et al., Zoning Petition Recommendation: The Planning Board does NOT RECOMMEND adoption. To the Honorable, the City Council, On March 28, 2017, the Planning Board held a public hearing on this proposed amendment affecting the “Mass and Main” zoning subdistrict in Central Square. No representatives of the petitioners were present, but the Board heard testimony from a representative of the property owner most affected by the petition. This area has been the subject of much study and review by the Planning Board over the past several years, including the Central Square (“C2”) Planning Study completed in 2013 and the subsequent petition by the property owners to create the Mass and Main subdistrict, which was adopted by the City Council in 2015. The Planning Board endorsed the C2 study and, after careful deliberation, recommended in favor of adopting the 2015 zoning amendment. More recently, in 2017, the Board reviewed and approved the Mass+Main development proposal, which conforms to the recently adopted zoning and which the Board found to be consistent with the goals expressed in the C2 study. At this stage of the process, without having undertaken any new study to support a variation from the 2015 zoning amendment, and after the property owner has invested significant time and resources into a planning and permitting process that has involved extensive engagement with the community at various stages, the Board does not support amending the zoning ordinance as proposed. Respectfully submitted for the Planning Board, H Theodore Cohen, Chair.